This week, student editor Regan Meyer is back with another “Internship Spotlight” profile with senior Emily Whitcomb, who interned at Nashville Soccer Club this summer. Below is the transcribed interview*:

RM: What grade are you in at Belmont?

EW: [I am a] Senior 

RM: What is your major?

EW: Corporate Com with a minor in Marketing

RM: Where was your internship this summer?

EW: Nashville Soccer Club

RM: What was the application process like for your internship?

EW: I filled out an application from their website and sent that along with my resume and a cover letter. After a couple of weeks, I was asked to come in for an in-person interview with two staff members. The interview lasted about 30 minutes and then I got an email a week later with the good news.

RM: How did you prepare for this interview/position?

EW: Once I got the job offer I did a lot of research on the people I am going to be working with and about the soccer division the Nashville Soccer Club plays in. It was really important for me to be up-to-date with the professional league NSC plays in because I was not as familiar with it as I am with the MLS.

RM: What was the most important thing you learned from this experience?

EW:  The most important thing that I learned is the importance of relationships. It was really easy for me to create bonds with my managers and co-workers because it was a very open and welcoming work environment. This not only made work enjoyable, but it helped me create relationships with people who have a lot of amazing experiences and connections in professional sports. This will be very beneficial for me in the future when I am applying for jobs because I will have important and popular people in the industry referring me for jobs. It is always important to make really good first impressions!

RM: How did it prepare you for the industry you want to go into?

EW: I really want to go into professional sports marketing or community relations and I think this internship was a perfect fit for that. I play for the Belmont Women’s Soccer team, so I know what the game is like on the field, but I had no knowledge in what went on behind the scenes.  This internship gave me experience and taught me so much about professional soccer that I had no idea even happened.

RM: Was there anything that surprised you or that you did not expect?

EW: The thing that surprised me the most was how involved us interns were with everything. At first, I expected to do a lot of the boring work that nobody wanted to complete but as time went on I started to realize that interns were a crucial part of this organization. The environment was so collaborative; everyone was always asking for opinions and actually taking what people said into consideration. It was nice because everyone was always on the same page and nobody was ever left out of the loop.

*The answers from this interview have been condensed